


just a blink

by atlantisairlock



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: 5x10 What?, 5x10 Who?, And Nolan Can Kindly Fuck Himself, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Gen, Happy Ending, Lol What's A Poi, Male-Female Friendship, Not Canon Compliant, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-09-28 11:42:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10099103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlantisairlock/pseuds/atlantisairlock
Summary: "Look, man, if you're ever in New York, look me up."Samuel looks Sameen up.





	

**Author's Note:**

> #stillbitter
> 
> title from 'blink' by frankie.

Samuel goes to New York entirely on a whim.

He goes to New York with three things - a name, the vague memory of a face, a burning curiosity.

He goes to New York with one aim - to find  _Sameen_ from three years ago - and no idea how to do it.

He'll figure it out when he gets there. 

 

 

Rishi and Matthias think he's lost his mind when he books a return ticket on United.

"We literally  _just_ cleared our names," Matthias says, incredulous. "All you know about her is her  _name,"_  Rishi reasons. "And United,  _really?"_

They make very good points about laying low, staying safe, how the odds are stacked against him.

He goes anyway.

 

 

It's a long flight from one coast to the other and Samuel is in desperate need of a coffee when he gets off the plane. 

He gets his luggage off the belt and heads out of the airport to find a Starbucks or something equally trashy. 

Halfway down the pavement he passes a lone payphone on the corner.

It rings.

 

 

He almost doesn't pick it up, because  _what._

Almost.

It's strange, though, how coincidental it seems, and how nobody else notices, tunnel vision as they head to their own destinations.

Samuel takes the handset and puts it to his ear.

 

 

The voice is mechanical, robotic almost, but sounds somehow  _alive._

"Samuel Laurence Haverford." 

He goes cold. He's been spotted. There is no other explanation. He's going back to prison. 

"You are looking for Sameen."

 

 

It is not a question.

Samuel glances around him, at the morning traffic, the crowd, the normalcy, and whispers into the receiver. "Who are you?"

The voice laughs. "That is not important." A pause.

"I say again. You are looking for Sameen."

 

 

Samuel inhales deeply, and decides  _what the hell,_ he's got nothing to lose.

"Yes."

"She has been waiting," the voice answers, then rattles off an address.

Once he plugs it into Google Maps, the line goes dead.

 

 

A twenty minute ride on the subway and another ten minute walk takes him to the front of a two-storey house.

He stares up at it for a long time before walking down the path and knocking on the door.

From inside, he hears a faint shout. "Sam, will you get the door, please?"

And he thinks he might be holding his breath.

 

 

When she opens the door for him he recognises her immediately.

She looks healthier, less haunted, less afraid, but otherwise - the same.

She looks at him in bewilderment for a moment, and then the light dawns, and she grins.

"Samuel."

 

 

Sameen invites him in, seats him at the breakfast bar and pours him a glass of water.

"It's been a long time," she says, and clinks glasses with him. 

"It has," Samuel agrees. "How have you been?"

Her gaze roams over his shoulder into the living room, toys strewn over the floor and the television on, and she smiles. "I'm good."

 

 

They catch up, answer each other's unspoken questions from so long ago in that prison cell.

Samuel tells her all about breaking himself and his friends out of jail, being on the run, and finally proving their innocence after a hard fight.

In turn, she recounts her long road home, and fighting an underground war most people will live and die never hearing of.

"And now, here I am," Sameen smirks. "Suburbia."

 

 

He hears it before she says anything - children's laughter from upstairs, squeals and squabbling, the voice of another adult.

"Now _b_ _ehave_ , we have a visitor," he hears her scold gently, alongside the patter of footsteps down the staircase. 

They come into sight, a little dark-haired girl and three toddling boys and a tall, beautiful woman herding all of them towards the living room.

Samuel sees something in Sameen's expression soften by degrees, and he thinks he gets it.

 

 

"Kids, this is Samuel," Sameen begins, and doesn't get much further. 

"Hi!" "Who are you?" "Are you Mama's friend?" "Why you in our house?"

" _Kids._ That's rude," Sameen admonishes, and Samuel can't help but smile at their wide eyes, their curious faces.

"Hi," he says. "It's nice to meet you all."

 

 

"You didn't tell me you were expecting someone," the nameless woman says to Sameen, and she shrugs. "I wasn't."

"I just came on a whim," Samuel explains.

Sameen puts an arm around the woman's waist and pulls her in, close and protective. "Root, this is Samuel - the one who helped me escape from prison. Samuel, this is Root, my wife."

Root looks at him with a new light in her eyes and extends a hand. "I've heard about you," she says, quiet and grateful. "And thank you. For helping Sameen get home."

 

 

Root sits down at the breakfast bar beside Sameen once she's settled the children in the living room with a stern warning not to disturb the sleeping puppies.

"You have beautiful children," Samuel says, and means it. "What are their names?"

Root's smile is wide and genuine. "The girl is Hannah, our only daughter, the oldest. The littlest one is Cole, and the only one with light hair is Carter."

"And the one who's disturbing the dogs right now even though Root explicitly told them not to is Reese," Sameen says dryly, and Samuel can't help but laugh.

 

 

They talk about everything and nothing for a good two hours.

Samuel tells them how he got their address, and neither of them seem surprised.

"I know you want to know how and why," Root tells him before he can finish his question. "But there are some things that are meant to be kept secret."

He can get that, so he drops the subject and starts talking about something else instead. He knows better than to push.

 

 

"You ever been to New York before this?" Sameen asks, on the doorstep, when he's leaving to check into his hotel.

He shakes his head, and she grins. "We're taking the kids to the zoo tomorrow. We can show you around."

She puts her number into his phone, and he in hers. "We'll pick you up at the lobby, yeah?"

"All right," Samuel says, and she waves him off.

 

 

He gets a text message from an unknown number that night, right before he goes to bed.

 _Years ago, in a war you know nothing of, I was unable to save Sameen. You helped her get home, in your own small way, and kept her safe. Thank you._ _I am glad you got to meet her again._

He stares at it for a bit, thinks of what Root said - _there are some things that are meant to be kept secret_ \- shrugs, and just texts back.

_I'm glad I got to meet her too._

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: so in this fic root shaw & fusco are the only ones still alive, the machine never took root's voice, gen lee & taylor are the next generation, and bear has had puppies, and gen is now bear's guardian, and everyone is HAPPY like they should be.


End file.
